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Tamil Festivals

Festivals are happy times. In South India, particularly Tamil Nadu, the festival dates are based on stars and the dates vary every year. You should check out Tamil calendar for that year to get the exact date for a festival.

The food we make for each festival is unique. By default all food items during festival days are vegetarian except a few communities have elaborate non-vegetarian food celebration during the festival season.

Some communities go on fasting for breakfast or whole day during certain festival.

Some festivals falls on a full moon day. For example: Vaikasi vishakam, Panguni uthiram, Thaipusam

Many festivals of the Tamils are celebrated for Lord Muruga and they are famous in countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa. Check out this page for countries celebrating Tamil festivals.

We have organized the festivals based on Tamil calendar. Click on the festival links to learn about the festival and food we have during that festival.

Typical food during auspicious days include:
Sambar or Kuzhambu, Rasam, Veg side dishes.

Tamil Month Gregorian equivalent Festivals
Chithirai mid-Apr to mid-May Tamil New Year, Akshaya thirithiyai, Chitira pournami
Vaikasi mid-May to mid-Jun Vaikasi vishakam (Lord Muruga's birth anniversary), most of the marriages and house warming happens in this month
Aani mid-Jun to mid-Jul Aani thirumanjanam (Lord Nataraja gives darshan to devotees)
Aadi mid-Jul to mid-Aug Aadi perukku (Tribute to water), Varalakshmi viratham (Fasting)
Aavani mid-Aug to mid-Sep Vinayakar Chathurthi
Purattasi mid-Sep to mid-Oct Saraswathi pooja, Ayutha pooja, Krishna janathi
Aippasi mid-Oct to mid-Nov Deepavali
Karthigai mid-Nov to mid-Dec Karthigai deepam (This is literally "Festival of lights" for the Tamil)
Markazhi mid-Dec to mid-Jan Vaikunda Ekhadesi, Carnatic music and dance festivals
Thai mid-Jan to mid-Feb Bogi, Pongal, Maatu Pongal, Uzhavar thirunaal or Kaanum pongal, Thai Amavasai, Thai kiruthigai, Thai poosam
Maasi mid-Feb to mid-Mar Maha shivaratri, Maasi magam
Pankuni mid-Mar to mid-Apr Panguni (Pankuni) Uthiram (Wedding day for many Gods)

Major festivals in gregorian calendar (Jan onwards) are Pongal, Maha shivaratri, Tamil New Year day, Vinayakar Charurthi, Saraswathi poojai, Deepavali, Karthikai deepam


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We are passionate about food. In this website we will talk about South Indian food, particularly Tamil food. We have organized the recipes based on veg and non-veg category or You can browse the photos to check out a recipe. Since we are global Indians, we are including few fusion recipes, experimenting different style of food. On each recipe page, you can click on ingredients/spices to learn more about them.

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